Richard Garriott is blasting off to space next year aboard a Soyuz rocket for a week-long trip aboard the International Space Shuttle. This makes him the first son of an American astronaut to go into space (there have already been three cosmonauts’ sons.) His father is former Skylab and Spacelab scientist, Owen Garriott.

Richard, creator of the computer game “Ultima,” paid $30 million to Space Adventures for the privilege and figured that if he was going to have his chance in space, he had better grab it now through private means. The 46 year-old man will be leaving October 2008. If you want to keep track of his journey, visit Richard in Space.